I Gotta Plan...
22 May 2026 Strandhill, Ireland
Plans for sailing, refitting, and a road trip around the west coast of Ireland.
planningrefit
2025 Part 3
9 January 2026
A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on.
2025 Part 2
4 January 2026
A friend has bought an ancient 45' steel sloop and wants my help sailing it to Portugal.
2025 Part 1
1 January 2026 Makkum
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...
2025
Old Diesels Never Die
12 June 2025
It's been a while since my last post so I will try to give you the highlights over the past few months. My boat, Anjea ...
Caribbean
Seventy-two Today
5 January 2025
It started as usual with my late morning Kefir -- full of fruit, nuts and veggies. Combined with a largely gluten-free diet ...
The Dragon's Long Game
12 December 2024
This post is somewhat different to my usual reflections, but over the past seven years of sailing through Southeast Asia, Africa, South America, and now Europe ...
ChinaPoliticsEconomics
Amsterdam
28 August 2024
Marnix, Hugo's brother, is taking us for a tour of Amsterdam in his little boat. We could never have done this on our own. I'd be lost on those canals in five minutes ...
Neptune's Staircase
28 August 2024
Blue skies, a light breeze, calm seas and good friends on a boat. It's hard to beat. Summer has been slow to make an appearance ...
The North Sea
13 August 2024
We have just left the Caledonian Canal at Inverness in Scotland. The breeze is as light as expected and we only set the main to steady the boat ...
Tripping With the Maasai
2 May 2024
Tears stream down my face. I fall behind the others and find a comfortable rock to sit and give myself some time and space. It is as if someone has slipped LSD in my water. I try to absorb the view ...
A New Camera
8 April 2024
I bought a second-hand Nikon D800 as a replacement for the trusty old D700 that is now so salt-encrusted that half the controls don't work. I was tempted to buy a new mirrorless camera ...
But What Will the Children Think?
29 December 2023
Sorry, no photo to prove it, but I thoroughly enjoy my Christmas Day swim. This annual ritual would be unremarkable in Australia ...
Ireland
Where is Your Happy Place?
10 November 2023
Have you ever felt angry, depressed, or frustrated with your life? Do you wish you could escape to a place where everything is calm, peaceful, and joyful? Well ...
St Martin
5 September 2023
The computer has died so I'm tapping this out on a tablet and it will be a short note. Arrived St Martin on 16th April after a good fast sail to windward from carriacou. Fixed many things ...
Carriacou
20 March 2023
Leaving Trinidad I am tired after a long day preparing Anjea and Bollemaat. The final task is to commission Bollemaat's Autopilot. It does not go well. I have redone the actuator wiring ...
AnjeaBollemaatCaribbean
Trinidad
31 December 2022
We have come here in search of a toilet ...
Bollemaat
18 December 2022
I am feeling down since Merel left the boat in Paramaribo. She made me feel young until she told me I was too old. So I signed on to a project boat owned by Yayo, a local character. Bollemat is ...
Still in Suriname
16 November 2022
I'm still having fun in Suriname. A local here (Yayo) has tapped me to fix up his old sailing boat up ...
Saamaka River Experience
29 October 2022
The Saamaka are the Maroon Africans living along the Suriname River. No, that's not them above they're my wonderful companions on this adventure! The Suriname River is big ...
Flying to Anjea
21 October 2022
For several weeks now I've been working on a replacement for the clunky old PredictWind tracking page that I used before the Iridium Go sat phone went overboard. At first I tried Leaflet ...
Holland gone Troppo
7 August 2022 5 42.36 N 55 04.76 E
We arrived in the little village of Domburg yesterday after a boring trip from French Guyana. What wind there was blew mostly from ahead so we just motored. First impressions of Surinam are Holland ...
The Border
7 July 2022 05° 30.3828' N 054° 02.0060' W
We are now in the Maroni River after a wonderful overnight sail of about 120nm to the Northeast of Iles du Salut. The weather ...
Des Képis Blancs
4 July 2022 05° 17.0582' N 052° 35.3251' W
Literally, des k pis blancs translates as 'the white caps' a nickname for the French Foreign Legion ...
Prison
2 July 2022 05° 17.0582' N 052° 35.3251' W
Today we splashed around in the jungle surrounding Ile St Joseph in whose lee we are anchored. I forgot my shoes ...
What a Blast!
24 June 2022
We walked out to Mont Carapa, a hill on the outskirts of town ...
Kourou, French Guyana
21 June 2022 05° 08.9031' N 052° 38.8309' W
We leave Cayenne on 20th June about 1000 on the turn of the tide . There is very little wind and what there is is on the nose so we motor. Once we're out of the channel ...
We have left Richards Bay
18 June 2022 29 08.079s 32 20.156e
A great send-off by our friends in RB. We left about 12:40, motored out of the bay, managed to miss the wreck at the entrance thanks to someone onshore with an extraordinarily loud whistle ...
Tangled Mainsail Halyard
18 June 2022 30 14.039s 31 33.620e
The predicted northerly came in overnight and I excitedly started putting up the mainsail ...
Light Winds
18 June 2022 31 08.591s 30 35.516e
Merel saved the day by untangling the mainsail halyard and I promptly wrapped it around the other spreader! But with daylight it was an easy fix and we have spend the day sailing ...
Strong Winds
18 June 2022 33 48.098s 27 31.205e
The crew (who shall remain nameless) decided to seek better winds offshore but were eventually persuaded it was better to head for St Francis than the Southern Ocean ...
St Francis
18 June 2022 34 10.781s 25 29.941e
Merel stood the graveyard shift last night and I got a full night s sleep! Wow! That s a luxury I don t get when I m solo. It is now dawn. The sun just blinking over the low sea-mist on the horizon ...
Arrived St Francis
18 June 2022 34 11.050s 24 51.108e
The port captain gave us directions to negotiate the tricky entrance. Easterlies can make it difficult ...
So Now We are Three
18 June 2022 34 22.040s 24 20.219e
St Francis Marina is excellent but we paid a premium for our berth. It was worth it though ...
Solid Sailing
18 June 2022 34 52.021s 20 37.909e
A good steady easterly carried us past Plattenberg Bay and Mossel Bay ...
The Cape
18 June 2022 34 55.319s 19 46.523e
It is a gybe like any other. Walter takes the wheel and I manage the sheets. There is 15 kn of breeze from behind and the gybe itself is smooth as silk. ...
Cape Town
18 June 2022 33 54.517s 18 25.102e
We motored in light to non-existent breeze for the last day and arrived in spectacular Cape Town about 1700. The mountain backdrop ...
Goodbye South Africa
18 June 2022 33 41.760s 17 39.892e
Cape Town, you were everything I imagined, and more, but it s time to go. We left just before the opening bridges shut down for scheduled load-shedding ...
Light Overnight
18 June 2022 32 16.293s 16 35.897e
Conditions moderated through the day yesterday and we motored thru flat seas and no wind most of the night. The wind has picked up nicely now, but from North ...
Many Fishermen But No Fish
18 June 2022 29 24.358s 14 37.140e
We are zipping along at over 6 knots. Lots of fishing boats ...
Catching Snook
18 June 2022 27 14.165s 14 50.969e
Buy the lure recommended by Gary in Richards Bay. Mine has 3 medium hooks and a bunch of fine, frilly plastic decoration that doesn t look like anything I ve ever seen in the sea ...
Lüderitz
18 June 2022 26 38.429s 15 09.417e
We were officially welcomed into L deritz by Customs and Immigration yesterday. We clear in together with Perry, a wonderful family on a catamaran whom we d met before ...
Hottentot Bay
18 June 2022 26 08.178s 14 57.140e
30 knots of wind as we anchored well offshore after a good sail up from L deritz. It s great to be moving again after spending a bit too long in L deritz living up to some commitments. The desert ...
Expensive First-World Junk
18 June 2022 25 40.276s 14 43.995e
Yes, a sailing boat needs wind but this too much. We had 25kn all night. The swell is huge and the surf spectacular ...
Fog and Calm
18 June 2022 23 57.844s 14 07.023e
Cold damp fog overnight and this morning. Its 1015 and it s still slightly foggy and heavily overcast. Merel started the engine on her watch overnight ...
Walvis Bay
18 June 2022 22 57.185s 14 28.823e
I set a line and 30 minutes later we have a yellow tail kingfish ...
Halfway, More Curlicues and the Return of Grumpy Dave
18 June 2022 17 30.994s 2 05.676e
Well, our woes with pumps are not over. The seawater pressure pump sprayed saltwater all over the electrics in the bottom of the cupboard it lives under causing the boat data network to die. It s a ...
Merel's Story
18 June 2022 19 19.314s 4 27.600e
It s been very rolly since we left Walvis. 2-3 meter waves most of them coming from the south ...
Renewal
18 June 2022 20 36.478s 7 14.297e
Every journey is a journey of self discovery. Sailing, I have discovered once again, is best done as short hops of less than a day ...
Beware Strange Noises
18 June 2022 21 14.365s 9 42.644e
During Merel s watch I got up to investigate a strange noise that I thought was coming from the galley. But when I stood in the galley it seemed it was coming from outside ...
The Curlicues
18 June 2022 22 17.161s 12 40.409e
Leaving Africa all our pumps decided to go on the blink. First the fridge fresh water cooling pump lost its prime. Then, just as we rounded Pelican Point out of Walvis bay ...
We are cleared out!
18 June 2022 22 57.264s 14 28.861e
Time to go. The deep sea calls. We leave tomorrow morning.
Mindfulness
18 June 2022 17 10.786s 0 28.234e
We started off on a broad reach and now we ve been running downwind wing on wing the last few days. Anjea rocks from side to side and sometimes there s a little forward ...
Windless
18 June 2022 16 41.641s 2 04.432w
The sun shines, the air and water are both 26 C, Anjea moves comfortably across the long ...
Tickling the Nuts on the Green Bilge Monster
18 June 2022 16 22.690s 3 26.791w
The engine stopped on Merel s watch last night. There was a little wind so she set the sails ...
A Crescent Moon
18 June 2022 16 14.838s 3 54.538w
The engine conked out during my watch because we forgot to transfer the fuel over on time. I put up the genoa. ...
Goodbye Saint Helena
18 June 2022 15 55.451s 5 43.452w
We cleared out of St Helena yesterday and partied with the Saints till early this morning. Everyone was at the yacht club ...
Saint Helena
18 June 2022 15 55.448s 5 43.444w
There s a red light in front of us says Merel as I take over the watch at 0500. On deck I can see a distinct slow flashing red light, then a white light St Helena. As the dawn light grows ...
No Date
18 June 2022 15 55.447s 5 43.455w
Merel has gone camping for Easter, I m on the boat, and we ve given up trying to set a date for leaving St Helena. Several new boats have arrived with more on the way from Cape Town ...
The Saints
18 June 2022 15 55.448s 5 43.452w
Saint Helenaians just doesn t work, so they call themselves The Saints and have made us wonderfully welcome. Merel has been spending nights ashore at The Consulate ...
No Fish (yet)
18 June 2022 15 50.165s 6 14.064w
The crew were incapable of manning the boat yesterday, so we stayed another day. Something to do with that Friday night party and the bottle of Tequila. ...
Settling In
18 June 2022 15 03.360s 8 00.777w
A small sliver of moon in a sky full of silver stars, with the faintest hint of dawn behind us. It is 0500 and the start of my next 4hr watch. A mostly clear sky promises good solar power today ...
Still No Fish
18 June 2022 13 52.614s 10 32.147w
Three days out and I still have caught no fish, but we re hanging in there with a line out all day. There were a couple small flying fish on the deck ...
The South Atlantic Ocean
18 June 2022 2 30.340s 44 18.810w
Along the West African coast, north from Cape Town, the sea is a grey-green soup filled with life sustained by the Benguila Current flowing up from the Antarctic. Once we left the coast off Walvis ...
More of the Same
18 June 2022 11 57.528s 14 41.524w
The sun is up and we have cloud today, so less solar and will need to run the engine more to make it up. I am experimenting with a new strategy using both battery banks and both alternators ...
A Tangle
18 June 2022 10 58.159s 16 50.147w
Talking about it afterwards we both knew that the genoa sheet was chafing against the pole jaws and was likely to give way, we just didn t know it was going to be dinner time yesterday ...
Merel in the Middle
18 June 2022 10 51.680s 17 03.169w
It s been good sailing since we left. The first day the fastest up to 9 knts and last few days nice and steady between 5 6 knts. The waves have only been getting easier too. Slowly ...
Half Way
18 June 2022 10 02.809s 18 22.924w
For the past few days the wind has been getting lighter and as it does we go slower. Now we are doing less than 2 knots, so slow we jumped off the back of the boat and went for a swim one at a time ...
Pizza!
18 June 2022 9 05.633s 20 57.874w
Still no fish but the pizza was great. The wind came back earlier than promised and we ve had a good day s sailing in lots of sunshine ...
Last Post (for a while)
18 June 2022 8 53.861s 21 20.604w
We lost our Iridium Satellite device overboard on 1 May so there will be no further posts or tracking updates for a while. Sorry about that. Otherwise ...
The Alternative Story About How We Lost the Iridium
18 June 2022 8 53.861s 21 20.604w
On the first of May 2022 things were still going smoothly as ever. On the second of May however our situation took a turn. This is how the story went. Merel was making pancakes that afternoon while ...
Arrived Sao Luis
18 June 2022 8 53.861s 21 20.604w
We just dropped anchor in the pale light of dawn off the island and city of Sao Luis on mainland Brazil after a good crossing from de Noronha.
High and Dry in Sao Luis
18 June 2022 8 53.861s 21 20.604w
We are now on our third tide cycle in the strangest marina I have ever been in. Whenever the 6m tide goes out Anjea is left stuck in the fine sandy mud, completely aground ...
Leaving Sao Luis
18 June 2022 8 53.861s 21 20.604w
We have made friends here and will be sorry to leave them. Merel, of course, wants to spend the rest of the year exploring Brazil ...
Ilha dos Lençois
18 June 2022 1 18.930s 44 53.140w
We arrived in the early hours of 1st June after a gruelling sail into a wind that was much stronger and more northerly than forecast. The seas were not big but short and steep ...
Cayenne, French Guyana
18 June 2022 4 51.030n 52 17.060w
We arrived in Cayenne on Sunday 12 June after a great sail from Lencois, which we left on 8th. We motored into the wind until we reached open sea and could turn north ...
Brazil
16 June 2022
Brazil is a vast country of more than 215M people, 2.7% of all humans. We saw only the Northeastern tip of it. But what we saw has us regretting that we did not go further south ...
Out of Place and Time
25 May 2022
Crossing from Walvis Bay It is my watch. Merel has found the source of the annoying noise we both heard last night the lower stays are loose ...
The Promised Land
19 April 2022
I am coming to think it may not be a bad thing for a society to have a shared notion of god, even if it is filtered through a religious apparatus. Whether it is one god or many; male, female ...
An Alien in South Africa?
4 February 2022
It is always difficult clearing in and out of a foreign country in a yacht. I rush around all day in an attempt to clear out so we can leave tomorrow. To clear out I have to visit the marina office ...
Leaving Richards Bay
1 January 2022
You can tell by the grins that the test sail went well. I leave Richards Bay in South Africa with mixed feelings ...
Treated But Not Cured
8 July 2021
Consolidation, Round One Black, black, exhaustion, darkness, nothing ...
HealthWoePhilosophy
A 1,300km Tanzanian Safari
5 September 2020
I have the privilige of riding The Beast Arthur's Honda 750 'Africa Twin' from Tanga, where Anjea is anchored, to Lake Natron in the Great Rift Valley ...
The Essential and Exquisite Pleasure of Pissing
19 June 2020
The shortest day of the year is nearly upon us 21st June marks the middle of Winter ...
HealthTanzania
No Antidote for FGF*
11 April 2020
*Fucking Great Fever Yes! I am out of my self-imposed purgatory! I think. But it's not quite heaven here in Tanga. After isolating myself on Anjea for 14 days with no ill effects ...
Beating the Fever
23 March 2020
My recent quick trip back to Australia was far more interesting, in all the wrong ways, than I originally planned. I knew of the novel coronavirus in China when I left ...
The Child In Charge
26 February 2020
At the Ratco bus station in Tanga I am waiting for the bus. Not waiting for it to arrive the bus is already here, but waiting for it to start. A bunch of fundi keep doing the same things ...
Crossing the Indian Ocean
15 February 2020
11 January 2020: Sabang, The Day Before Clearing out of Sabang, Indonesia takes forever. First, it s Saturday and everyone is just slooowwww. Then the internet goes down, then the power goes off ...
Indian Ocean
The Magic Is About To Start
28 December 2019
I hate drunks. They are insensitive, self-obsessed, boring, stupid, and uninspiring. Unless, of course, I am drunk too, in which case they are entertaining, insightful, delightful, clever ...
Back to Java
19 August 2019
Sailing past Java last year I stopped just once in the Sunda Straits, the north-westernmost tip of Java, a couple of months before a tsunami devastated Carita Beach ...
JavaIndonesia
Go Now or Later?
13 July 2019
The 'eagle' is the symbol of Langkawi. Except it isn't an eagle at all but a kite ...
Malaysia
Goodbye Indonesia
1 January 2019
Eric Tang and his mechanic at PAMarine have done a great job on the gearbox ...
Back to Sebana Cove
4 December 2018
Thirty years ago someone had a huge vision for a mangrove swamp in Johor, Malaysia ...
SingaporeDeep ChillMalaysiaIndonesia
Real Talk — Man Overboard
30 November 2018 Hobart
Personally, I only know one person who has fallen overboard. She was wearing an immersion suit and competing in a professionally organized sailing event. Even so ...
SafetyMOBGPS
The Equator, Gearboxes and Trust
16 November 2018
My plan to sail offshore the Sumatra coast has stalled, run out of wind and at the same time acquired too many headwinds ...
Anjea
Deep Chill
20 October 2018
The name is a reference to the sensory deprivation experience of chilling out in a floatation tank Gary, the owner ...
Deep ChillDelivery
Atauro Island
16 August 2018
The photo above is just one of the hundreds of dolphins we passed on the way to Atauro from Dili. The island of Atauro is less than a day's sail north of Dili ...
Timor-Leste
We Won!
22 July 2018
Oh, Dili is so different! I had forgotten how much difference a culture makes. We've been immersed in Dili for the past 24 hrs and they are such a beautiful ...
Racing
Over the Top
8 July 2018 Darwin
Beautiful sunshine on a 33 degree winter's day. It was one out of the box and such a contrast to the almost constant grey of the previous days crossing the Gulf of Carpentaria ...
Anjea
Hobart to Sydney
16 June 2018 Sydney
A long slog about a long trip from Hobart to Sydney via everywhere in between. We tried to strike a balance between 'getting there' ...
Hobart to Sydney
Cairns
11 June 2018
Fitzroy Island Friday, 25 May 2018 On 9th June 1770, Captain James Cook sailed past an island off a prominent cape on the Australian east coast. He named the cape 'Grafton' and the Island 'Fitzroy' ...
Queensland
The North Queensland Coast
24 May 2018
The photo above is of Balding Bay, Magnetic Island's 'Nudie Beach', if you believe some of the locals. We didn't. But it's a beautiful spot, far nicer than the photo implies ...
Queensland
The Queensland Coast
14 May 2018
This is a sailing slog, with more than usual emphasis on passages and anchorages. I have tried to make it useful for Jean Marie ...
Queensland
Plan B
2 April 2018 Bundaberg
The idea was to sail north from Scarborough Marina in the northern suburbs of Brisbane to Bundaberg ...
Sailing
Aground, and Only Myself to Blame
29 March 2018
Well, when I anchored here I thought it was going to blow gently from the South East, maybe the East, 10 knots max. So I could anchor close to the southern shore ...
TideGrounding
Rocky and The Fitzroy River
24 December 2017
Photo: Stavanger , Ellen Stanyer Captain Robert Fitzroy was an English aristocrat with an interest in science and exploration ...
Dressing Up
23 September 2017
Anjea got a new set of covers and I got an eyepatch. My eyepatch was a consequence of an eye problem. It's all good now, but the pirate jokes got a bit boring ...
PeopleSydney
Progress in the Boatyard
23 September 2017
Sailing with Lesley over Christmas was great but it exposed a few problems. First, of course ...
Coxswain Grade 1 Near Coastal (NC) and the Student from Hell
23 September 2017
The Cox course at AMC was not designed for me; I am not sure who it was designed for but their advertising is directed at Torres Strait Islanders. I find that a bit odd for a Tasmanian University ...
AMC
SPOF
23 September 2017
Never put all your eggs in one basket Don Quixote Diversify your investments any investment advisor A single point of failure (SPOF) is a part of a system that, if it fails ...
HobartTechnical
Murder in the Marina
23 September 2017
It was a beautiful afternoon, a gentle breeze, a few clouds, soft sunlight dancing on the water ...
Hobart
Winter in Hobart
23 September 2017 Hobart
Wednesday, 13 July 2016 Walking to the clubhouse I fall in with another sailor, a local it turns out. I'm rugged up in several layers finished off with a beany ...
Hobart
The First Time Solo
23 September 2017 Hobart
Lots of people are surprised when I say I intend to sail by myself. They think it's changing sails that's the hard part, or steering, or staying awake. While sail handling has its memorable moments ...
SailingHobart
The Philosophy
23 September 2017
ell, somehow I never expected have to justify my view of life, but now I find I do. Not that anyone has challenged me on my decision to buy another boat and go sailing ...
philosophy
The Survey
23 September 2017
Pat will do the survey. He is a qualified shipwright and marine surveyor, has built his own aluminium boat, hates wood ...
SurveyPurchase
-jpg-thumb.webp)
The Offer
23 September 2017 Hobart
Making the first offer was easy. I just thought of a price, subtracted a large number from that ...
OfferPurchase
The Wooden Boat Festival
23 September 2017
The Hobart Wooden Boat Festival was a lot of fun and incredibly popular. Even at 9am it was busy and by 11am I had had enough of the crowds ...
Boat
Escape from the Boatyard
23 September 2017
Today, finally, we made our escape from Prince of Wales Bay and the boatyard. It really was hard for me to grasp that it was finally happening ...
Predicting the Future
23 September 2017
When confronted by a complex system in an unknown state that you need to deal with into the future there is one thing you should do first: establish a baseline. It could be a used car ...
SailingBoatMaintenance
On the Way West
23 September 2017 Port Davey
We are travelling west across the bottom of Tasmania, from Recherche Bay to Port Davey. The fabled roaring fourties are quiet today ...
Port Davey
Mt Rugby and The Best Beer Ever
23 September 2017
It turns out that Lesley and I are not the only yachties silly enough to want to climb Mt Rugby. We fall in with a bunch of others making their way to the summit of this awesome mountain ...
Port DaveyMountains
Mind Mangling
23 September 2017
We were kind of warned about the Port Davey River but no amount of warnings could have prepared us for the mind mangling experience of being there. It is an awesome place ...
Port DaveyRivers
Tiger Snakes and Mountains
23 September 2017
As I snap the photo she strikes. I jump back, trip over the pathway and land on my arse, adrenalin pumping ...
Port Davey
Time to Go Home
23 September 2017 Hobart
"It's time to go home" says Lesley. Home. That's a funny word: Anjea is my home. What she means is back to Hobart ...
Port Davey
Port Hacking
23 September 2017 Sydney
This marina is filled with power boats. There are very few yachts and Anjea looks uncomfortable. However ...
Sydney
Big River
23 September 2017
Northern NSW is endowed with some big rivers, bigger than anywhere else in the dry continent of Australia. Of these, the Clarence River is the biggest ...
Big River
The First Night Onboard
19 June 2017
Moving onto Anjea was a pretty simple event. Just grab my gear, stick it in the van ...
Woe
Sometimes, Depression is the Only Rational Response
5 July 2016
The doctor says it's shingles, a variation of Chicken Pox that affects adults. Apparently you don't 'catch' it. The herpes virus that causes chicken pox lives in your nerves from childhood ...
HealthPsychologyWoe
The Brexit
24 June 2016
It's a thing. Today, against all the pundit's expectations, the Brits voted to separate from the guys over the channel. Wankers. But maybe it will be for the best ...
philosophyPsychologyEconomyPolitics